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Beida vs. Oxford: Comparing the Chinese and Western Elite Universities
Feb 09, 2012By Susie Gordon, eChinacities.comThere's no denying that China's university system is vastly different from its Western counterparts in countries like the USA and United Kingdom. From teaching methods and ethos to extracurricular activities and college accommodation, life at a Chinese university is a far cry from a Western campus. But which system is better? Will a degree from Peking University (Beida) stand you in better stead than a BSc. from Oxford?
Let the stats do the talking
The figures are telling. The Times Higher Education Ranking for 2010-2011 lists the best 200 universities in the world, positioned according to a variety of criteria including results, teaching standard and ethos. The top five are American (Harvard, California Institute of Technology, M.I.T., Stanford and Princeton), with the UK's Cambridge and Oxford coming in six and seventh place. The first China establishment to feature is Hong Kong University at number 21, and the first Mainland university is Peking at number thirty-seven. Five other Mainland schools feature in the top 200, namely the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei (49), Tsinghua (58), Nanjing University (120), Sun Yat-Sen University (171) and Zhejiang University (197).
The history
The older the university, the better it tends to be, so Western institutions are at an obvious advantage in that they were founded earlier. England's oldest universities – Oxford and Cambridge – were established in 1096 and 1209 respectively, and Harvard in the USA dates back to 1636. Although China's two best-known universities – Beida and Tsinghua – were founded in 1898 and 1911, their lag in the ranking has much to do with the hiatus caused by the Cultural Revolution.
During the decade (1967 – 1977) when many British universities were growing and developing their curricula, Chinese schools were stripped of their faculties and purged of counter-revolutionary academics who posed a threat to Mao's regime. This means that the university system had to be rebuilt from the ground, following the Soviet system in which graduates are shaped to serve the state.
Historically, Peking University had been a hotbed of political activism, with students active in the May 4th Movement of 1919 as well as further important pushes for reform. The spectre of the Cultural Revolution, however, still looms large. A report in the British newspaper The Guardian in March 2011 even referred to screenings for "radical thought" at Chinese universities.
The life of a Chinese university student
It is this Soviet-style ethos and fear of reprisal that has geared modern Chinese university education away from the liberal arts (in which analysis is key) toward a more scientific curriculum. Although many of the top Chinese colleges now prescribe a wider breadth of subjects in the first year, the majority of graduates still hold degrees in pure and applied sciences, medicine, agriculture and engineering. Right from the root, China's education system suffers from a reputation for rote learning and a lack of creative thought. This persists to university level, with Western colleges outperforming in arts subjects.
The view from the ground is that life at Chinese university is tougher than even the Ivy Leagues in the States and the Red Bricks and Oxbridge in the United Kingdom. Although there is pressure at Western universities to perform and snag the best of the graduate jobs, it is nothing compared to the hot-house atmosphere at Chinese colleges. Students in China have been prepared for university since their educational careers began, with everything leading up to the infamous gao kao exams at the end of high school. Once a teen reaches university, there is none of the heady freedom that's synonymous with the frat houses of American colleges, or the parties associated with student life in the West. Chinese students most often live in crowded dormitories, with as many as eight sharing a room. Studying takes up the majority of their schedule, with little time for anything else.
The prospects of employment
One of the truest tests of a university's mettle is the situation for graduates once they have gained their degree. As with the top universities in the rest of the world, a degree from Beida or Tsinghua will almost definitely guarantee you a well-paid job in a good company. The reputation of the high-flying colleges means high status for graduates, and the chance of a better life.
For a Chinese student graduating from Beida or Tsinghua, their prospects are more or less equal to those of a British graduate from Oxbridge, or an American from an Ivy League school: good job prospects, the potential for a high salary, and opportunities for post-graduate study. Top universities the world over share exacting standards and excellent teaching, selecting the very best and most intelligent students. While the Cultural Revolution and Confucian teaching systems may have proven damaging for the Chinese education system, the country's best universities are holding their own in the world ranking.
Related links
Netizens React to Peking University President Criticizing U.S. Education
Chinese PhD Dissertations: Many Citations, Little Innovation
Beijing's Best and Brightest Again Choose HKU Over Peking University
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Seriously, comparing Oxford against Beijing?? Get a life....
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Now china is booming the world with its capacity, now all the country keep watching where china will go. It is good if china make the better education system compare with Oxford. I'm sue in next few year china will fulfill this.
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You're believing too much hype. Also, China just makes cheap trinkets, it does not creat hi-tech, it does not make modern medecine. Your universities don't teach critical thought, just memorization. THAT is why Chinese universities will never be good.
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A degree from Beida is worthless outside of China. A degree from Oxford is respected world-wide. The best and brightest Chinese are all studying abroad. How many English are mortgaging their house to send their kids to Beida?
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one thing to be argued is that Beida, if you enter into a program with classes in Chinese, will perhaps (note i say perhaps) lead to better opportunities or is at least better bang for your pound or yuan.
Employers and governments will hire foreign Beida graduates because they speak the language of the fastest growing country and have years of experience with its smartest people.
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Yes Jeff, this is so true. This is the main reason I like staying on here in China. I have seen some here come with nothing and gain well.
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Yes Oscar I agree. China is a place where time teach you a lot, especially how to cope if you have nothing in hand and live in a alien society. While in West now everything is ready made which is not a true learning rather to follow the old route. Better to take the "road not taken" by many and this is what is charm in China. Thanks China to let me know how to survive in anxiety.
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i love it when wumao (s) have an "i agree with you" 3-some. any country that has to pay people to go online and say nice things about it in comments sections world wide , is pathetic. nuff said. america's unofficial secret group, seal team 6, china's unofficial secret group an army of wumaos.
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Keep calm and carry on England! They say the sun never sets on the British Empire, but it appears it has. Just as China's economy passed you, so to will it's universities.
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HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA *Catches breath* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Do you REALLY Think a bunch of communist party stooges demanding young men and women memorize texted books will make good universities? Even JAPAN hasn't overtaken places like the UK and US. It's not in the Chinese culture to create and innovate. Sorry, cheap labour is about all they have.
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leon you are missing one incredible huge point. school sponsored cheating. teachers encourage their students to cheat here. also many teachers actively participate in students cheating . i have been asked countless times "do you know a student who can take ... test for a student of mine?"
someone thinks china passed the uk in economy well tell me this who has a better standard of living, whose medical facilities are better? answer this question , if china is so much better and is on an up swing, why do i have 300 students whose goal is to get out of china?
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I went to Nanda, and most classmates graduated and accepted jobs that paid from 2500-3000RMB/month. I understand that this is not Beida or Tsinghua, but is the gap really that much different? I think an Ivy Leaguer or Oxford/Cambridge grad could pull at least $50,000/year at a minimum, as opposed to the approximate $5,000/year a Nanda grad would make, and I'm not buying it that Beida/Tsinghua grads make THAT much more than Nanda.
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I take issue with one thing in the article "The view from the ground is that life at Chinese university is tougher.... Although there is pressure at Western universities ...it is nothing compared to the hot-house atmosphere at Chinese colleges."
This may be true in the top few universities in China, but there is a local saying, "Chinese university is difficult to get in (ref. to gao kao), but easy to get out". The culture is that students do not pass tests, they keep re-sitting until they either pass or are given a pass, usually the latter. I know I was asked to write easier papers for re-sits.
Most of my students did the minimum, in the non top tier universities I worked at.
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Correction, above should read, 'students do not fail tests..'., and not 'students do not pass tests...'.
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Even the top universities are a joke .... The only bad part about them would be dorm life - but school itself? a joke
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This is what I have heard too. I've heard that the students compete fiercely through high school to get into universities, then once they are in they don't get a very good education. Its a joke.
I have lived in China for 5 years and have many Chinese friends. Now I understand the real problem in Chinese education starts from elementary school where the kids are loaded down with too much work, and no time or energy left to develop themselves with their own hobbies and interests. That is where the buck stops. Period. If you don't let the individual develop, you are never going to have any great thinkers and innovators... Sad to see so many people wasting so many hours for naught. They are overworked and underdeveloped because of this. They all know this too but there seems no way out of it. Reform will have to start from the University entrance standards and maybe by some breakout private schools that start teaching in a new way and the universities show preference for accepting those kids. But those kids will be a threat to the teachers because they will ask questions that teachers can't answer. And that doesn't go down well in this culture...
Reflecting on my American education that made a stop through Stanford, I can say that in my younger years, time spent tinkering with fixing my bicycle and watching my grandfathers build amazing devices in their garage workshops was an incomparable part of my upbringing. After living in China now I can see my education is my most treasured possession.
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10 to 20 years to have a chance of being ranked on par with US Ivy League and Oxford/Cambridge. HKU will probably come before Tsinghua/Beida...
I've heard from pretty much every Chinese I've talked to that college in China is easy. After they get through the Gaokao, college is cruise control and waiting for that diploma. The one aspect that may actually be important is networking, not academic rigor. That comes from both Chinese who studied at my university in the US and some at Chinese universities. It seemed like a consensus.
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GIVE ME A BREAK. Why don't you compare a community college to Oxford while you're at it, cause many community colleges in the west are better than them. What research has Beida done? What groundbreaking stuff has it contributed to? Not only that, how can a university do its job if questioning things like the government is illegal?
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Having graduated from Oxford I can tell you some things you have missed out from your pretty vacuous report. Oxford, as is Cambridge, is a collegiate system which means comparing it with Beida is like comparing a diamond to a piece of cheese. There are three terms a year which are 8 weeks long. This means academic life is intense. I personally had 2 papers a week compared to 2 papers a term at some universities in the UK. Oxford students sit 'real' finals, and by that I mean you don't sit any exams of note (if you are an arts student) until your final few weeks at university. One on One teaching for hours at a time with world respected scholars within their respective disciplines. Absolutely no plagiarism of any sorts is tolerated. Visiting lecturers the likes of which you can't imagine. An active extra-curricular life with space for creative thought and the ability to disagree with other people's opinions without offending them or having them take it to heart.
Chinese universities are infinitely behind Oxford, as are most UK universities. The talent of the teaching staff is the main difference, but how about Chinese uni's sort out the plagiarism issue first.
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Excellent article!
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Well done Susie Gordon. You may now collect your red envelope from the little man wearing a 'comrade's hat'
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Seriously though too much "smart" westerner here. Well i have been studying master degree here in china, graduated fresh from Indiana University (GO HOOSIER). The only westerner that i know come from good university in china are this big pile shit of "0".
Although i am not from China, i was wondering why people from USA who is damn poor and definitely uneducated always act so damn arrogant as if they own this world. Face it dude, your country now looking out for more loan to china, Chinese investor pretty much bang your country, and without chinese goods your country is fucked. The number of college graduates is dropping in recent years, I think many of you are just too fucked up from alcohol and partying or basically “retarded” to get into good university as it is so fucking easy. Trust me I know! Been there done that!
Even from all of the comments here, I pretty much knew how uneducated you are and how foolish your facts is. Next time before you write, get your facts right! And Please DON’T WRITE SOMETHING THAT IS UNTRUE AND DEFEND YOUR TERMINOLOGY. You don’t sound smart, you just look retarded. More likes! Wow now we know there are more like you!
P.S: if you don’t like it here, it may be because you are just too fucked up to get a job back in your country.
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You don’t sound smart, you just look retarded.
Graduated from Indiana University? Bullshit... I doubt if you even graduated from 3rd grade.
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Why are you so pissed off? did my word get it to your neck. If it is then you should be from 3rd grade university and poor like hell, cause if you are not then you wouldn't be this pissed off..
Don't trust me do it, ask around your fellow westerner (in this case American) i bet 90% of them did not even graduated from top 50 school in US. In my company, most of you are in your 30s and work part time here. It just means that your life must be so damn fucked up in the US, so just shut the fuck up and stop acting so damn arrogant. You should just act the same way during work time, working 5 hours a day for 100 kuai and hour.
Pathetic
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